The Research Of The Present Situation And Countermeasure Of Chinese Teaching In Middle Schools In Cork Area Of Ireland

Since the Confucius Institute of University College Cork(UCC), the second Confucius Institute in Ireland was jointly set up in October 2007 by Shanghai University and University College Cork, the seeds of the Chinese language and culture have sprung up all over Ireland rapidly. With the completion of the Confucius Institute of University College Cork in Ireland, the number of the schools opening Chinese classes is increasing year by year, and more Chinese teachers and volunteers are required. As a volunteer Chinese teacher, I worked in the Confucius Institute for 10 months and got a chance to access to and investigate the situation of local education and Chinese teaching. By doing the research I realized many difficulties and problems arising from Chinese teaching. For example, the lack of suitable Chinese textbook, fixed syllabus and template for Chinese lessons of middle schools and the lack of practical experience and teaching resources, which became main problems to local volunteer Chinese teachers. In some degree, this aroused a strong interest inside of me to address the problems, and it is the main reason for me to select this topic for my research ultimately.This paper is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is mainly about the introduction of the background of this topic choice, research purpose, research objects, research methods and research review, etc.; The second chapter mainly introduces the education system in Ireland, the situation of local middle schools education in Cork area and gives an overview of the UCC Confucius Institute. The third chapter analyzes the materials, teachers, students and Chinese classroom teaching in local middle schools in detail, especially the textbook contents, teaching methods and students’ feedback concerning Chinese teaching. The fourth chapter summarizes the problems existing in Chinese teaching in the local midddle schools and puts forward corresponding countermeasures to solve these problems. The fifth chapter concludes this paper with a summary to full text and makes a wish for the future of Chinese teaching in Ireland.The paper mainly proposes the innovation points as followings:Firstly, this research has a broad field of vision. As one of the local volunteer Chinese teachers, I not only focused on the classroom teaching, but also conducted a deep investigation, analysis and instruction on some other aspects of Chinese teaching, such as the syllabus, curriculum, textbook writing, teacher training and so on. Every aspect is closely linked to each other, and it’s reasonably detailed with a define priority.Secondly, the research methods are full-effective. Through investigation, interview and many methods of research, I collected large amounts of data from Chinese teaching situation, teachers, and students in local middle schools. And under the guidance of language teaching theories, I did an objective and effective analysis of the data.Thirdly, the research findings are pointed. This research was done from the perspective of local Chinese teachers. As the main designer and participator of the research, I experienced the whole process of local Chinese teaching. Facing the problems of no good textbooks and no unified contents for Chinese lessons, I constantly adjusted and improved of them in the process of teaching. I specially designed something novel from the general teaching plan to teaching contents and methods, and last put forward the concrete countermeasures for the problems in this paper. The results of the survey are used to serve the local middle school Chinese teachers, hoping to provide a basis and a direct reference for them, so as to enhance the efficiency and quality of Chinese teaching in local middle schools.